Gamecock Gameday

Football season is upon us y'all!

I love football and college football season is my favorite sports season of them all.

I have been working on decorating our house for football season and searching Etsy, Zulily, and racking my brain for new ideas and cute updates.  I have also been looking for new outfits to wear for tailgating and watching the games at home.

These are the things I have seen that I absolutely love:

I love this banner. 

 Isn't this wine glass fabulous?

How can you tailgate without a good game of corn hole?

Aren't these custom corn hole bags fabulous?

 Chevron is my new favorite thing. 

I love this!

 How cute is this necklace???

 I am totally going to try to make this.

Let's Go Gamecocks!!!

Goodbye Summer

Today was my official first day back at work, which means summer has officially come to an end.  While it's sad to say goodbye to summer, remembering all the fun we had (and all we did from our Summer Bucket List) makes me ready for Fall and Football Season!

Ben, Elizabeth, and I did so much this summer and had so much fun I just wanted to take a minute to remember everything.


Once school was out, Elizabeth and I headed south to Columbia.  We spent four days visiting lots of my friends from college and graduate school. 

We had dinner with Dana.

 

We went to a water park.

 We had dinner with Teri and Libby.

 We went to the zoo with Emmie and Ellie.

The girls loved feeding the giraffes.

We made several trips to The Woodlands play area at Landmark on rainy days.  Elizabeth loved running, climbing, sliding, dancing, and crawling.

 

For the 4th of July, we celebrated at home with the neighbors.  We went to the pool in the morning and then had a neighbor cookout in the evening.

 Family photo!

 Don't you love our setup?

On the 5th of July we headed to Pennsylvania to Jared and Kelly's annual pool party.  We grill out and swim all day.  It is fabulous and always a fun and relaxing day.

 Elizabeth spent all day in the pool

After dinner, she enjoyed running around Jared and Kelly's backyard.

During the summer we went to Old Town to feed the ducks.  We ended up feeding more birds and fish then ducks.

(I just like the picture of Elizabeth)

In the middle of July, my college roommates Simone and Jessica came to visit.  We toured the mall and enjoyed some grilled food by Ben.

 Elizabeth was not enjoying the sun in her face.

Me, Simone, and Jess

We also just goofed off around the house and enjoyed summer.

   

At the beginning of August we celebrated Ben's birthday.  Elizabeth and I really enjoyed pampering Ben all day and showering him with goodies.

 Surprise party!

 Goodies!

 Birthday dinner!

Later in the week, "Atlanta Ben" came to visit and we took a trip downtown to a few museums and then hung around the house and grilled out.

During our last week of vacation, Elizabeth visited her Nana and Pap Pap while Ben and I painted the main floor and our bedroom.  After the hard work was done we enjoyed some golf, baseball, nice dinners, and going to the movies.  I already blogged about it here and here.

I love summer!  It is absolutely my favorite time of year.  And this year, I had a great day every. single. day.  Thank you to my wonderful family for a great summer!

Favorite shops/ Favorite outfits

Yesterday on Kelly's Korner, Kelly did a link-up about favorite online shops.  I still love to shop in person, and don't do much online shopping but I do have a few stores that I look in on.  I have also picked up a few new items to start fall off right.

My number one favorite store in person and online is Ann Taylor Loft.  I buy almost all of my non-work clothes from The Loft and I love the changes they have made recently to their pants.  I also love their petite section because I am short and their petite shirts fit perfectly!

 I got this Mosaic Striped Sleeveless Dress

I also got this Lace Front Top is Black

And this Black Stones Stripe Necklace Tee

Now I prefer shopping at The Loft in person because the pictures on their website are not the best.

For Elizabeth's First Birthday I did some Etsy shopping (and a lot of research).  I ordered Elizabeth's birthday outfit from the most wonderful shop Addie Kat.  I loved the outfit and so did Elizabeth.  The shirts and tutus are great quality!

And when I was pregnant with Elizabeth I wanted to have a painting made with her name on it.  I contacted Stacey Foster at StaceyFoster on Etsy.  She had a ton of samples in her Etsy store and she customized the size I wanted for Elizabeth.  I highly recommend her work!

This is the sign she has in her store and I had her make it into a 16x20 painting for Elizabeth.

Happy Shopping!

Gamecock Deco Mesh Wreath

For the past several years I have been wanting a deco mesh wreath.  

Until this week, I didn't realize it was called a "deco mesh wreath".  

In preparation for the upcoming college football season, I decided that I wanted to make a Gamecock wreath to put up for the season.  I googled "Gamecock Wreaths" and found two blogs that provided a step-by-step process on how to make a deco mesh wreath.  I really liked both of them, Miss Kopy Kat and Clumsy Crafter were the two that I used to help me.  

Elizabeth and I went to Michael's yesterday and picked up the supplies.

 - Garnet and Black Deco Mesh

- Garnet and Black pipe cleaners

- Wooden letters

- Circle wreath

 I cut the pipe cleaners in half.

 And spaced them 1/5 inches apart.

 I put one layer on of the garnet deco mesh.

Then I added a layer of black deco mesh.

 

I added a third layer of black mesh behind the garnet.

 

Then added a fourth layer of garnet.

 

I spray painted the letters white because the paint from the store was coming off.

Then, I painted black polka dots on.

 

 Polka dots finished.

 I added the letters to the wreath.

 Close-up of the wreath

 The finished product.

Pittsburgh Weekend

This past weekend we went to Pittsburgh to visit Ben's brother, Adam, and his fiance, Brigette.  Adam and Brigette are two of our favorite people, and they come to visit us often.  So we switched it up a bit and went for a visit in their neck of the woods.  I've only been to Pittsburgh a handful of times and most of them are football game related, so it was fun to spend the weekend enjoying the city and seeing Brigette and Adam's favorite places.

Friday afternoon we got into town and Ben and I walked around a bit and then met Adam at his apartment.  After work, Brigette came and met us and we all went to dinner at Brigette's favorite restaurant-  Park Brugge.  This place was so good and hidden inside a little neighborhood.  You must try it if you visit Pittsburgh.

After dinner we drove back to the apartment and left the car and headed out on foot to a bar called Hemingway's Cafe.  On our way to Hemingway's we passed by the Cathedral of Learning on the Pitt Campus.  If you are ever in Pittsburgh, you really need to go by the Cathedral of Learning.  It is beautiful inside!!!

Also on our way to Hemingway's, we stopped by the Pitt Panther and snagged some photos.

At Hemingway's cafe we enjoyed some adult cocktails and some delicious tater tots.  

After Hemingway's Cafe, we walked back to the apartment and the boys enjoyed a few video games.  I know they don't get to play video games with each other (pretty much ever) so Brigette and I enjoyed watching them have fun with some old school games (and brotherly rivarly).

On Saturday morning, we got up and hung around the apartment for a bit.  After that we walked to Pamela's Diner for THE BEST pancakes I have ever had in my entire life.  If you can eat anywhere while you are in Pittsburgh, make it breakfast and make it Pamela's Diner (just know it's cash only).
On our way to the diner, I snagged a few more pictures of beautiful Pittsburgh...

 

Thank you Adam and Brigette for a wonderful visit.  We had a fabulous time!